"I remember well travelling to Venice with a group of enthusiastic photographers in January 1996. Our arrival on the vaporetto was impossible to forget, because just a few hundred yards away there was a terrible fire, and the Teatro La Fenice was burning out of control. The following morning, I went to see what remained, and managed to get a glimpse of the steps in front of a pile of ashes, where there was a single red rose laid on the bottom step. I will never forget that experience. In the following year, 1997, I came again to Venice and the burnt out remains of the theatre were still there. Nothing had changed. But Venice of course was still the wonderful fantasy city that it always has been, almost a city in one’s imagination. The gondolas, especially the old ones, have a wonderful way of rocking, because they are rather unstable, or appear so. The rocking was exactly what I was after, as I wanted just a little hint of movement. But with this image, it was very important that the bow of every gondola managed to reflect some of the shimmering evening light. I also wanted them not to be obstructed by the vertical poles, so it took some time to arrange them to be precisely in the position they were in. The cold blue colour worked very well, I thought, with the yellow of the poles. I have always been intrigued by warm and cold colours together, they seem to produce a sort of frisson, as it were."  Charlie Waite